Four Powers of Camp Half-Blood
by Johannich
Summary: Demigod!RotBTD. Rapunzel meets Jack, Hiccup, and Merida after being thrown into the forest with almost no memory at all. Each of the Four have their own abillities the camp have never witnessed before. The three agrees to help her, but is it really safe for Rapunzel to know her past? The Big Four / Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons fanfiction
1. RAPUNZEL

CHAPTER 1: RAPUNZEL

A shriek pierced through the forest at the darkest hour of the night. Our present hero, Flynn Rider, turned quickly towards the noise. It wasn't far ahead - a couple hundred meters maybe - but he stayed still, gritting his teeth in regret. The rest of his team was missing, and he was enough injured from the fight before. Did he really have to save some virgin in distress or whatever they called it? He was supposed to lead his team to California, pick up some lost Celestial Bronze Hephaestus decided to throw into the wild, and get everyone back to camp. Some leader he was. Up until now he'd managed to get them all to California in his car, get everyone else trapped by evil Cyclops, got himself into a fight just to get blacked out afterwards and waking up some other place he didn't know where was, in a forest – alone.

He cursed in Greek and went after the sound. If he had gone by himself, none of this would have happened, but no – Chiron had to be a pain in the ass and say he had to pick two companions. Gods, why was it such a big deal anyway? No monsters had ever attacked him before unless he was… let's see… surrounded by more smelly demigods! For some weird reason, the monsters didn't take a liking in him smell, which made him even more awesome in his head. Flynn had never given it much thought, why he was special in this case I mean, because why doubt something that gives you a great advantage? Nope, not gonna do that. It might get on nature's bad side, and that was the last thing he needed.

He ran for the screams as they became louder and more terrifying the closer he got. If he had been completely sane, he would run in the other direction, obviously. Screams means trouble, and even though monsters where out of the way, he had enough of bad guys after him – some immortal gods as well. But he was still dizzy and his thoughts were cloudy from the fight with… what had they been again? Oh yeah, monsters. Some kind of monsters, no more details saved. But he had been in this protective/grumpy 40 year old mother mood since they left the camp and still wouldn't let anyone die on his watch. Lots of shaming later would not be avoided after that. But who knows, maybe it's Astrid? It's obviously a girl, though Astrid letting out such a sound almost made him laugh. Sandy was out of the picture, seeing him being mute and not able to make a sound. Flynn dodged a root on the ground by centimetres and kept running. The ground was wet and muddy from a rainy day not too long ago and it almost made him trip. He started to feel seriously uneasy about this, but there was no way he could back down now. Whatever it was that scared this girl had probably heard him already, he was already breathing heavily.

Flynn jumped through some bushes and approached the screams. HE stood in the outside of the clearing in the dead of the night, taking in the scene before him. Indeed, it was a girl – a pretty one too, for that matter. She wore a purple dress with an odd pattern sewed on the edges, a pink corset that made her look more like a teenager than a woman, and she wore no shoes nor had a backpack. She had freckles and emerald green eyes, but there was something really special about her: Flynn watch her hair grow, like, he saw her golden locks grow down her shoulders slowly, but visibly fast. And she was terrified. The girl clung to the side of a stone hill she was pressed against, narrowing her beautiful eyes at the monster before her.

She had to be a demigod. Monsters won't just approach mortals like that, and besides, the Mist won't allow her to see the thing if she didn't have godly blood. How old could she be? Sixteen? But that didn't matter right now, she'll get killed if he don't –

The monster made a chiming sound, like a bell. But not just a bell; it was Sandy's bell. The monster was one of the Cyclops who had Astrid and Sandy. Flynn leaped forward, setting himself between Goldie and The Face, his Celestial Bronze sword ready in his hands as The Face launched at her.

Flynn had never been really good with swords, seeing as he had never bothered to go to sword fighting classes because the monsters didn't want him. Hah. Now he wished he had done that. He managed to chop off the Face's arm and send him trembling back a few metres. It was like slashing butter. From the monster's shoulder dripped golden liquid, the blood of immortality (because technically, you can't kill a monster for good, they keep coming back after a while).

"Who –?" a tiny voice said behind him. He glanced back and gave her a quick heroic smirk before launching at the Cyclop, still not having the slightest idea of what he's doing.

"What –?" said the monster confused, caught off guard by the sudden attack.

Flynn slashed The Face's left leg and he bent forward. The demigod put the tip of his sword at the cyclop's nose and snarled, determined not to let his fear creep into his voice. "Where – is – my – friends?" He spit each word at the monster's face.

Then the ugliest thing happened. He – or she, it was hard to tell – smiled grotesquely, making Flynn think of most horrible scenarios.

"I…" said Goldie back at the stone hill. "I-I saw them! I know where they are! I've been there!"

Flynn felt bad for not trusting a pretty girl, but he didn't know anything about her except… that she was a demigod! That's all he needed to trust her. "Are you sure?" he called back to her, still keeping his cool at he stared at The Face.

"YES!" she shrieked a bit hopeful.

Flynn gripped his sword harder and used the Cyclop's stupidity to his advantage as he pushed his sword into the skull of the monster, making it explode into a cloud of golden dust. Flynn stood there for a moment, calming himself down while staring at the dust. A breeze went through the clearing, and Flynn didn't waste any time. He kicked parts of the dust into the wind. You know, just to be on the safe side. But even though he had little to none experience in fighting monsters, he couldn't shake off the thought that it had been a little too easy to kill the Cyclop.

He turned to the girl, whose hair had now reached her waist. Man, that wasn't normal, right? "You okay, Goldie?" he asked her, but judging from her torn dress and several injuries that made her stand in that weird angle, the question wasn't needed. She panted small huffs and finally let herself relax a bit as she slid down the mountain side and sat down at the point where stone met muddy grass. It made her dress dirtier but it didn't seemed like she cared one bit after what she's been through. Goldie let go of something Flynn hadn't noticed before, a black old fry pan, to bring her hands to her face. A fry pan, Flynn thought sarcastically. No wonder.

She sobbed once, still holing her face. "Why do they… keep coming after me? What are they?" Flynn walked over to her and sat down. She was still afraid. She looked up and narrowed her eyes at him in the dark helplessly. "Why can't other people see them?" She obviously knew nothing about anything in the world they lived in, and was desperate to know why all this happened to her, and why it was her exactly. Flynn couldn't really relate, but he had seen new campers doing the same thing over the years at camp.

He really didn't want to take the teacher role. It's not like he didn't care about her well-being and everything, but if he was to explain all this to her it's sound like 'uh… well, you see, Goldie… these things want you dead because they want to eat your godly flesh, by the way, your mommy or daddy is a Greek good. Cool, eh?'

He inhaled sharply. "I can't really explain it all to you myself, but I can take you to a place where you'll get to know everything. What do ya think?"

He could see it in her eyes that she believed him as she calmed down and started breathing normally. She nodded. After a moment of awkward silence, she shifted and flinched. "Could you… do me a favour?"

Flynn clapped his lap. "Sure, Goldie. Just not anything involving a horse, and we're good."

The girl smiled at him. "Rapunzel. Rapunzel Nightflower." She held out her small hand that looked rough after small injuries from like sewing.

He took it and shook it a couple times. "The name's Flynn Rider."

She let go and blew some hair out of her face. It had now started to pile up on the ground. Well, he couldn't really say anything after seeing Merida. Her massive explosion of red hair strands beats everything, even insanely fast growing hair.

She sighed. "I will show you where I last saw your friends. One skinny blonde who smash things to pieces with a bronze ax, and a little sweetheart who can't talk, right?"

"That's them, alright."

"But can you carry me?"

"Of cour- wait what?" His very handsomely eyebrows shot up his forehead. "Princess, I'm no horse you can-"

"I know!" She averted it with rapid hand gestures. "I know and I'm sorry. It's just that I can't walk. The monster gave me pretty bad wound on my right leg and well…" She pulled up her skirt for him to see. Even from the blood strain on her dress, he would never have thought it would be this bad. The deep wound went from her knee to her ankle like the skin was ripped open purposely. Fresh dark blood was still running down her leg, overlapping the dried old blood.

Flynn whistled. "That's some scratch, Goldie. Okay then." He stood up and crouched down with his back to her. "Climb up."

She hesitated. Then, by using support from her left leg, she climbed unto his back and they went back to where Rapunzel had come from, and where Flynn's friends would hopefully still be.


	2. MERIDA

CHAPTER 2: MERIDA

An arrow shot through her massive red hair. "MERIDA!" her cabin leader shamed on safe distance. "I swear to all the gods, if you ride that Pegasus into the field one more time, I'll throw you into the Ares cabin! No kidding!"

It wasn't the first time Merida had been scolded for wanting to ride a horse animal when she practiced her archery. It reminded her of her homeland. Besides, she honestly didn't see the big deal about it – '_Your flying sticks cannot compete with a Pegasus; get the heck down from your high horses, you filthy bastards._'

Helen came stomping angrily up to her with arrows chattering in her quiver with every step. The rest of the Apollo kids sighed and rolled their eyes in prevention of what would happen next. "Every… single… day…" one of them muttered bored and hit his head lightly with his bow.

Helen was a nice girl. …or at least they said so. Since day one she's been a pain to live with, and it didn't make it better that lots of other campers liked her and blamed Merida for Helen's constant tiredness. It's not like Merida _tries_ to annoy her, but no one shall tame this wild stallion. She thought she'll get it easier when she left home, no mother to keep telling her what to do and constantly hold her to a goddamn schedule like she was some other doll she could play with! Helen wasn't that bad though, but she made the Apollo kids do things differently than the other cabins. Everyone else looked so much freer, while they had to stand in a perfect line, shooting arrows on still targets. Sometimes they had healing classes, but it seemed like Apollo forgot to give her that gene. Merida usually ditched that class due lack of knowledge.

Their cabin leader wore an orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt, a fresh pair of jeans, her dusty blond hair cut short above her shoulders, and her quiver strapped to her waist. After Merida arrived here, she figured it was only Helen and herself who liked their quiver better when bouncing to the hip rather than having it painfully fastened to their backs.

The leader's eyes were on fire. "Go put that Pegasus back in the stall, Dunbroch. It doesn't belong on an archery field."

The Pegasus, Willow (Merida renamed it because "Flicker" is a goldfish's name), stomped impatiently at the ground. He was pure black from hooves to the tip of his wings. Chiron had told her on one of her first days here, that Willow was the only offspring after the first black Pegasus ever seen on Camp Half-Blood; Black Jack.

Merida couldn't help but lean her head slowly backwards like her cabin mates had done, illustrating a painful death. She was tired too – from always listening to orders and scolding. Merida straightened and sighed. "How would you know? Have you ever tried to resonate with a horse and follow their movements as-"

Willow snorted, like saying '_Horse?_ _Really? I shit you not, half-breed_.'

Merida shook her head. "Pegasus, whatever. Anyway, Helen, you don't know what it feels like to-"

"I don't care, Fire!" She raised her arms in a declining gesture. "You are putting the animal's life in danger! What if we hit Flicker? We are using Celestial Bronze arrows; we don't know what would happen."

Merida narrowed her eyes brows. Willow seemed just as offended by Helen's concern. The red head slipped down from the Pegasus' back and stood face to face with her superior. "_Willow_ is the fastest animal we've ever seen. Do you really think you'll manage to make a scratch on him even if you tried? Shrink your pride a couple kilometres and maybe THEN you can be concerned about him."

Merida turned away from her and began her angry walk north, to the cabins with Willow small jumping happily beside her.

It took a couple seconds before Helen managed to say something. Our hero imagined the counsellor's face switch between six different shades of furious red, and it actually made her laugh when she spoke up.

"Remember to lock up Flicker, you- you- you sh-shameless weasel!"

But the good mood didn't last long. As Merida walked between the cabins lined up like a horse shoe, she pouted and groaned all together. Sure, she's having a good time here at camp, but it would be perfect if Helen would stop nagging on every single little thing she did!

Then a boy came racing up to her, tripping and falling on his face a couple times, but he kept going. "Merida!" It seemed like his helmet made him off balance as he tried to switch its weight from one side to another constantly.

This is Hiccup by the way. He came to Camp Half-Blood last year after the satyrs had gotten a report of constant monster attacks on his island Berk. After his mother died, his father had taken good care of him but it never occurred to any of the two that he wasn't really Hiccups father. Though, according to the young Viking, after he was claimed by Hephaestus, he felt kind of relieved. He had never been like his dad in any way. Merida almost felt bad for being happy that Hiccup didn't fit in in his godly father's cabin. She had felt very lonely when being the only outsider in a place where demigods belonged. Then Hiccup had found her stabbing the ground with her Celestial Bronze sword. He didn't say anything, just sat down and joined her grumpy mood. That's how they became friends.

He approached her, smiling smugly. "WHOA, tone down the joy; we don't want people to think our 'Fire' has a nice side. Helen, right?" he asked, though he knew the answer.

Merida snorted along with Willow, who still felt offended. Beside the helmet, Hiccup was covered in thick, black liquid - motor oil probably. Well, you never know with a child of Hephaestus. She had seen him with cloths on fire once; cloths ripped like they'd been trapped in machinery; and his whole being soaked in green slime they still tried to find out what was.

She strangled her urge to laugh. "Um, Hiccup, you got something on your cloths."

"Where?"

"Everywhere!" she exclaimed. "I mean, dang it, have you guys had a water war with oil or something?"

He looked down on his cloths again. "Well, no. But when you mention it... Hey, do you care for a swim?"

She flashed him a grin. "I refuse to scrub you back again, but you're on! First one to get their things and run for the beach wins!" Merida didn't wait for a response, she was just glad to get something else to think about for a while. At least she thought she would, but the Fates didn't have the same idea.

Willow was bored and went in the direction of the stall. As our red headed hero ran for her cabin, she glanced up at the Golden Fleece out of habit - it was hard to miss - and she saw another golden object there as well. Sandy and Astrid were back from their quest. Merida figured Hiccup would beat her anyway, so she ran for the hill at full speed to meet them. It was few demigods who considered Merida a friend, but Astrid and Sandy where two of them, along with the counsellor of the Hermes cabin, Flynn Rider, and a couple more people.

As she got closer, she saw the two were waiting for the third part of their team still climbing the hill. "Hey guys!"

Astrid lit up instantly and dropped her Celestial Bronze axe on the ground. "Merida!" She nudged her friend. Astrid wasn't a hugger. Sandy simply grinned and waved at her. Merida squeezed him in a hug and Astrid spoke up. "How are things here after we left? I bet it's quiet."

"With me still sticking around? Give me some credit, Astrid!" our hero said jokingly.

Just then, Flynn made it up to them, but he looked absolutely exhausted. He was carrying a girl with insanely long golden hair, who's leg was about to split into two pieces in a very bloody way. The colour of her skin matched her eyes as she weakly peeked up at Merida where she stood frozen. Suddenly, Blondie's eyes widen by the sight of her and she gasped, causing some of the colour to rush back to her face. She clung to Flynn, and he looked like he could faint from carrying her.

"FIRE!" Flynn shouted, snapping her out of the shock. "Are you gonna help or just keep standing there like another airhead?"

"Oh geez, sorry!" Merida said with worry in her voice as she kept a close eye on the blonde. She turned towards the camp and whistled one long, high-pitched time. She turned back to the girl once she spotted a flash of black leave the ground by the stalls.

"Can you stand?" she asked, holding out her hands.

Flynn let her down on the ground, making sure she put her weight on her left foot. Strange, Merida thought. _He doesn't care like that for other people._ Blondie swayed slightly and Merida stepped up to catch her. Even her arms felt weak. What on earth have happened to this girl? And _why_ hasn't Flynn used the little knowledge of first aid he knew of to help her?

"Nectar and ambrosia doesn't work on her," the Hermes counsellor panted. "I don't know why, it just won't affect her. And I'm pretty sure I gave her way too much of that shit." As he told her, Willow landed behind her, causing the blonde to stare at the Pegasus in awe.

Our hero stabbed him with her glare. "Well, maybe _that's_ the reason why she's so weak! Even with her leg like that, this isn't normal!"

"Well, she didn't get any better. Besides, you burn your insides when eating too much, not turning all-"

"We'll talk about this later, Flynn! You get the others to Chiron, at least the rest of you can still walk." Merida growled silently and supported the new girl as they walked over to the Pegasus. She climbed on his back and stretched her hand out to Blondie who smiled and took it. With both girls on the horse back - Pegasus back, whatever - Blondie sitting in the front and Merida behind, Willow spread his wings and they took off.

She introduced herself as Rapunzel. Rapunzel: small; currently sickly weak; seven meters long golden hair. She spoke like every word was a unique melody.

"Where are you taking me, Merida?" she asked, amazed by the view of their little green spot, Camp Half-Blood.

Relived that Rapunzel seemed better, she smiled. "I'm getting you the best future doctors there is, Punzie. Since our godly groceries won't work, you need mortal medical attention." Merida steered them towards the big house and Willow dived downward.

Wind blocked her ears as the speed accelerated, but she still heard a faint '_no, not there._' Merida hit the brakes, if horses have had any brakes, that is. Willow stopped diving and started sailing the winds instead, really annoyed with Merida for not making up her mind about the speed.

She leaned a little back on the Pegasus. "Something wrong?"

Rapunzel fixed her eyes on the horse mane, not interested in the camp's beauty anymore. She sighed. "No, it's just- I don't want to waste good doctors' time. I can get in shape by myself, but…" She trailed off. Her fingers played with her hair, parting golden strands, braiding them…

"So you… can heal yourself?" She had reached Merida's curious side.

Punzie shrugged. "Well, yes. Sort of. I won't have survived for this long if it wasn't for my hair."

Merida thought about that for a while - twisting the idea around in her head. "Willow, take us to my cabin. The others are still out on still-standing archery training." And Willow dived again.

As soon as Merida got Rapunzel inside the Apollo cabin, she locked the front door and helped her into the bathroom. They passed posters of herbs, ways of doing first aid, famous archers from books, movies, and reality. Nailed to the wall by almost every bed was three nails; one for the quiver and two for the bow. But they walked past that.

Rapunzel sat down on the chair by the bathtub as Merida locked the bathroom door after throwing the rest of golden hair inside. Then she walked over to the new camper and stared at her with wonder and unease. "Are you telling me your hair can heal you?"

"Yes, in a way. Why are we insolated like this?"

"Punzie," Merida sat down across from her on the bathtub. "Even here, that's not normal. One can't simply heal themselves with their hair; we don't have that kind of power, no matter what kind of demigod you are." Merida just met this girl, but she didn't want her to be seen as a freak for a special ability. No one deserved that. The red head felt worry build up in her chest. She could see it dawned to her in the way she let her eyes glide down to her hands where she held on to a purple piece of cloth. Suddenly, our hero felt her energy drop.

She fought back the dizziness. "But it's okay to tell me!" Merida grinned, trying to enlighten the mood. "I won't judge you. I bet you'll be claimed by the campfire tonight and then things would give more meaning."

Rapunzel giggled. "Yeah, you got some magic aura yourself, don't you, Merida?"

The archer's joy disappeared instantly. She felt a cold creep up her spine, like Jack was breathing on her back to scare her again. Her eyes widened and she felt off-balanced like Hiccup did while wearing his helmet. '_There's no way she can be aware… of my family's curse._'


	3. HICCUP

**Hello!  
Before the chapter starts I just want to say thank you for the lovely reviews, I'm happy you enjoy the story so far!  
Reviews gives me inspiration, so don't hesitate with leaving one behind ^^In this chapter you'll meet Jack as well, and yes, we'll have a closer look on his situation later on in the story, I promise.  
This was kinda in a rush, but enjoy it for the better of it!  
Johannich**

_P.S.: I'm still not entirely sure what the plot is, but in my head there's lots of ideas still twisting and turning, so we'll see what happens :D_

* * *

CHAPTER 3: HICCUP

The Viking had been frowning helplessly the past ten minutes. "Merida ditched me…" he muttered again. She was the one who made it into a contest in the first place, and she didn't even bother to show up. He really needed her this time too; there's so many spots on his back he can't reach without dislocating his arm first. He didn't really blame here though, he wasn't the most amusing person around.

He pouted on his way to her cabin, ready to confront her. She couldn't just let a friend down like that, problems with Helen or not. Most of the sticky black stuff was gone after a quick scrub, but he still had lots of it in his hair like grease that made it stand out and twist in odd directions.

He passed several cabins on his way, including the Aphrodite cabin where Merida's old friend Ivor Macintosh sat on the small porch, admiring his reflection. He had such "lovely flowing locks", a strong jawline and a smug smile as he checked himself out. Hiccup swore he would be the new Narcissus someday, no doubt about it. It was very uncommon that demigods knew each other from before the came to camp, but it seemed like some years ago, the Greek gods took a linking in Scotland, seeing as Merida have _three_ old friends here. Though, she won't completely admit that she knows them, sort of like she's embarrassed, but except from Ivor, he didn't catch what was so bad about them.

Our hero stepped into the Apollo cabin, glanced over the many posters he couldn't care less about at the moment, and whispered, "Merida? Are you here?" the sun was about to set soon and the cabin cold and hard in the disappearing sunlight. HE turned to leave, she was probably with Willow anyway, but caught an odd glow gleaming and growing stronger under the door frame. Despite being the skinniest and defiantly the clumsiest demigod in the history, he managed to sneak up somewhat quiet and sharpened his ears. A girl voice sang something about her belongings and designing sunshine, with a smooth yet clear voice. Another girl, Merida from the sound of it, yelped and he heard a tump of someone falling to the ground.

Hiccup had been in such situations himself where an Aphrodite kid had charmspeaked him into embarrassing himself several times in front of everyone. Though, Merida had always been there to violently snap him out of it… but there was no one to help her now - except him.

He should have bashed in (ripping the door of the hooks preferably) in a heroic manner and stopped whoever threated his friend. Instead, he silently cracked the door open, but the moment he spotted what was glowing, he froze on spot - eyes widening more and more as he stared at the stranger.

"Save what has been lost,  
bring back what once was mine-"

Hiccup didn't know how, or how to properly explain it, but there was a blonde girl in the Apollo bathroom with shining hair… It was like another sun - it glowed with life and warmth and _kindness_. But although the hair had caught his attention, when he focused on her face and her posture, the hair was _nothing_ compared to the girl herself. She expressed such softness, gentleness, and happiness which, when focused on, seemed so much more powerful than glowing hair. She was definitely not an Aphrodite girl.

She had wrapped the end of her hair around her awfully injured leg, but as she sang, Hiccup watched the large cut stop bleeding and started healing in a way that wasn't humanly possible. The edges of the cut closed together; at least it seemed like that way from what he could see through her hair.

"What once was mine."

Merida was indeed on the floor, with an expression of shock and awe as she stared at the blonde before her.

The light started fading after the song ended, and the room went dark. The stranger let out a sudden exhale and brought a hand to the bathtub to support her. She had turned pale and her upper body was shaking slightly.

"The longer my hair is, the more energy it drains from me," she panted and stared at her feet. "Both when I use it and when I'm not. That's why I constantly cut it short, Merida. But I can't heal fatal injuries with short hair either, it needs more power and I - Oh. Hello." Hiccup didn't realize she had spotted him standing in the door way before Merida looked up at as well and seemed somewhat disappointed.

"Hiccup, what are you doing here?"

Then he remembered why he wanted to find her in the first place. He looked down her and sighed helplessly, like a mom that couldn't control her hyperactive kid. "You didn't show up so I came here to give you a mouthful about ditching your friends, but I kinda heard you bump to the ground in here and a strange light so I opened the door and saw this girl doing some magic." He gestured towards the blonde. "That was some show, but the way! What's your name?"

She fiddled with a few strands of hair and peeked uneasy at Merida, as if to assure that it was okay to tell him.

Merida nodded at her and stuck her thumb at our hero. "This fishbone over here is Hiccup, my friend who can't scrub his own back by himself. It's okay to tell him, I'd trust him with my life any time."

The last comment made up for the fishbone thing. It was okay when he joked about himself like that, but if it was anyone else than Merida, he would get sad instead of annoyed.

"I'm Rapunzel. Nice to meet you, Hiccup." She gave him a gentle smile and held out her hand. He took it with a foolish grin.

An idea came to mind. "Hey Rapunzel -"

"Just call her Punzie," Merida interrupted and got up from the floor.

"-I could cut your hair. We don't want you fainting from exhaustion."

Merida chuckled. "You? Did you forget last year when you tried to cut mine?"

Hiccup snorted. "At least I didn't burn parts of your head while doing so, huh, Merida?"

She pouted stubbornly and crossed her arms, but let him win this one. Rapunzel smiled nervously. "That would've been nice of you, Hiccup."

He started searching for a scissor just as the dinner bell rang. "Gee, I would have to do it quick. You can probably get an Aphrodite kid to do it nicer afterwards."

He found an old rusty one and heard Rapunzel question Merida what an Aphrodite was, who said she would get to know it later. He stepped up behind her and took all her golden hair in his hand and cut it clean off in one smooth motion.

"Oh, and Hiccup, I should probably-"

But it was too late. He yelped as a chocolate brown colour rushed through her hair like wild fire and left it brown and somewhat less powerful. Merida took the hair from him, studying it. The rest of her hair remained golden though, cut sloppy and uneven above her shoulders, but still gleamed a little in the weak sunlight.

"We should go to dinner before they start without us," Hiccup said and looked out the bathroom door to check that campers were still in their way to the pavilion. Rapunzel jumped to her feet, boosted with excitement and eager to meet new people like herself. Well, _almost_ like herself. She helped Merida clean up her hair before they went out, deciding to give the hair to a cancer supporting organisation.

Hiccup scooped a healthy amount of food into the fire, mumbling "Hephaestus" and went to sit by his table. Then he heard Merida, in a rush that is, throw a bunch of food into the fire behind him, yelling "APOLLO!" and hooked him up from his cabin table, only to drag him away from his siblings and towards the north part of the dining pavilion. She ran through crowds of campers, dodging them like an eel, with Hiccup tagging along behind her like a loose rope trying to balance a plate of food.

They approached the back table, the table addressed to the campers who had yet to be claimed. Rapunzel sat there jumping in her seat as her green eyes wandered all around the place, looking at people, their actions, and different personalities at every table. Her hair had already grown beneath her armpits, something he wouldn't have noticed if she still had insanely long hair.

Beside her sat Jack Frost, staring at the newcomer weirdly. He looked between her and them with a questioning expression, as if saying, "I asked for a dog and you give me a freaking bunny?"

Jack Frost; cheeky, prankster, a thief of the girls' hearts. The only reason he sat by the unclaimed table was because Hermes didn't bother to claim him. Yeah, we all knew he was a Hermes kid, his whole being screamed Hermes. But he technically couldn't move into their cabin before his godly parent had approved of him, and for the time being, he seemed cool with that. The other Hermes kids didn't want anything to do with Jack, because they, too, knew he had to be one of them, but since their father hadn't approved of him yet, they didn't neither.

Merida dragged him down beside her on the bench opposite of Jack and Rapunzel. His fellow cabin mates shot him warning glares. It wasn't actually allowed to sit by another table than the one belonging to your parent, but seeing this one wasn't dedicated to a Greek god, it couldn't be all that bad, right? And despite his expectations, the Apollo kids _did_ seem to care about their sister being absent as they stared at her worryingly, glancing around from time to time to look for the sun god himself. It was just too bad Merida missed to see them caring for her like that; it would probably get her to rethink her feelings towards her siblings.

"Quit looking over, Hiccup. It'll just make things worse," said highlander grumbled into her drink of… was that root beer? Oh right, no alcohol.

"This is so exciting!" Punzie squealed. "Ohh- I should have brought a pie, you know, as a conversation starter - oh dear, I have no idea how to talk to these people –"

"Punzie," Merida interrupted. "You'll get to know everything later, but you're so skinny I'm sure you've been on the run for days without eating - EAT, wee lamb!"

Rapunzel looked down on her bronze plate. "Alright, but how does it work?"

Jack tapped her plate with his index. "It'll fill up with whatever you want; pick your favourite." Jack was ironically explaining this with his mouth full of ice cream. Merida always ate something sweet and Hiccup used to glance over at her plate and wish for the same - hey, he was from Berk, and tasty food wasn't a priority there.

Rapunzel stared at her plate, narrowing her brows in concentration and confusion. Nothing happened.

"Maybe you should say it aloud, it might help," Hiccup advised. Though, it had never been a problem before.

Rapunzel shook her head lightly. "No that's not it." She brought a fist to her head. "I don't know if I have a favourite."

Jack raised a brow at her with scepticism. "You don't have one? Man, if you haven't tasted enough food to know fried steak streams are the best stuff in the world then I feel sorry for you, Goldie."

The Viking nodded towards the Hermes kid's plate. "Then why are you going for vanilla ice cream?"

"He felt like getting a brain freeze," Merida teased smugly in between mouthfuls of cinnamon rolls.

Hiccup strangled his laughter and Jack stared at Merida like she was dishes he had to clean. Merida made frost jokes on daily basis whenever she bumped into him,-

"Just control your temper; I don't want my ice cream melting."

-and he backfired with jokes just as lame about fire. It was their endless quarrel, but it could have been worse; they could have hated each other. At least Merida is smart enough to not joke about how he's still unclaimed.

"Oh, and I'm Jack Frost." He turned away from Merida to shake the newcomer's hand.

This time she didn't look to Merida for approval, she seemed to trust Jack already. "Rapunzel Nightflower," she replied and smiled sweetly at him.

"Scoop over, Blondie. Reserved for Rider," a tall brunette stated with a cheeky smile and eyes fixed on Rapunzel. Flynn Rider – original founder of the smoulder, senior camper, leader of the Hermes cabin against his will. Is he really going to try and pick up Punzie on her first day here? Merida won't let that go easily.

Flynn seated next to Rapunzel, and Astrid suddenly appeared and pushed Hiccup closer to Merida so that she could sit on the edge. His heart caught up and he had to stop himself from gasping. He'd had a little more than friendly feelings towards her the past year. She the reason why he didn't fear the Ares cabin, mostly because he hoped that there were other people like her there.

Jack gave Sandy a quick "Sup?" as Astrid started to talk to Rapunzel, bumping into Hiccup at times, but he didn't mind at all. Sandy seated next to Merida, across from Jack. As far as Hiccup knowledge goes, Sandy's godly parent is Hypnos. So, let's see, for the time being we have two possible Hermes boys, one fearless Apollo archer, a way too pretty daughter of Ares, one sleepy son of Hypnos, one unclaimed, and a Hephaestus kid with too much Viking-ness stored up to function properly.

The redhead dumped a few five cinnamon rolls onto the Rapunzel empty plate. "Gods, Punzie, if your plate needs service then have some of my food. Those limps need protein!"

"Um Merida, I don't think-" our hero tried.

"Doesn't matter, young Viking! Now," she said in a proper voice. His friend rose from the table and gripped her glass of root beer. 'She's not gonna…? Damn, did she forget about her stage fear?!'

"I… I w-will propose…-"

"WHO'S THE LUCKY GIRL, FIRE?" one ass of a human being from the Aphrodite table teased.

Merida ignored them and kept trying to hold a toast for something, but they won't shut up.

"YEAH, DUNBROCH, SPEAK UP!"

She gritted her teeth and narrowed her eyes at the ground. Hiccup knew she hated this. She used to get shit like this back in her homeland, but it was one catch they didn't want to trig… Back in Scotland, if things got too heated, they would solve it with violence. Not just a small exchange of fists; a bloody pool of death if needed. Merida wasn't that violent though, but she still had it in her to defend herself and -

"I thought Hiccup was a boy, but now I'm not so sure anymore," some Aphrodite girl giggled.

The daughter of Apollo's expression turned horrified and she shot Hiccup a glance. He held his arms in front of her to say he didn't care about it all that much, but she turned around too fast.

"Who said that?!" Merida barked at the crowd.

Situations like this are the only time where the bad mannered cabins joined forces against one victim. The rest of the camp hated that. It's not enough that they acted like they were better than them; they had to pick fights to prove it as well. And if they managed to light the Fire, Merida would be blamed for it.


	4. JACK

Chapter 4: JACK

Jack didn't like where this was going, not one bit. Sure, Merida was annoying and stuck-up and stubborn most of the time. She had cursed him a couple times, not in a pleasant way, that is. The red headed Scot had been rude, un-welcoming strange, and rebellious towards him. But she was a friend who had, in the long run, accepted him and appreciated his unnerving existence. And considering Merida was a tad sceptical, that was down-right impressive taking all into consideration.

So he didn't like it – hell, he hated it – when those campers attacked her like that, like she was that misfit duckling in that story mortals tell their kids. Jack clenched his jaw and stayed still. He had sworn on the river Styx to always protect his friends, since he had so few of them. But Merida would never forgive him if he saved her now, she had to take care of this herself, for the sake of her pride.

Jack could sense Hiccup grow more and more uncomfortable with every comment someone threw at either him or Merida. He couldn't blame the kid – having to stand up against bullies his whole life and still there were people here who–

Jack's track of thoughts froze by the sound of heavy steps stomping across the pavilion and away from the camper, into the night. He waited for Hiccup to stand up and go after her, but the Viking didn't move, probably to convince the bullies that his relationship with Merida was just friendship – Jack swore he'd never witnessed a friendship as strong as theirs.

They kept throwing crap at her until she was out of earshot. Man, Jack was delighted he wasn't an Ares kid; that would've given him some sh-… he trailed off. He didn't want to open that box, not even to himself. The pavilion fell quiet as Chiron entered from the Big House. By the look on his face, he hadn't heard the harassing or he didn't care. But Chiron always cared. About everything. And everyone – even Jack. The unclaimed had a soft spot for the centaur.

No one said anything. Most stared uneasy at Chiron, and just now Jack noticed how Rapunzel was still staring at the direction her new had stormed off. From this angle Jack couldn't see her face, but from how she slowly stood up with her eyes glued on Merida's back as it disappeared into the night, she was very concerned. He put his hand on his cabin mate's shoulder. Her emerald eyes looked back at him and he quietly shook his head. Merida would cool off later. Then Jack noticed how ripped and dirty her dress was.

"Whoa, Rapunzel – what've happened to you? Played fetch with monsters or…?"

Rider tapped his first at the table with a smug grin plastered on his face. "That, Jack, is a very heroic tale with me starring as the main character!"

Jack arched a brow at him and smiled cheekily. "Ya know, Rider, sometimes you're a real sexist. I believe Punzie here is strong enough–"

Rapunzel waved her hands in an averting gesture. "No, no! He really did save me, Jack."

"That's right," Astrid put in and Sandie nodded. "They told us the whole story."

"Well, that's not really–" This time he cut himself off. "Wait." He narrowed his eyes at Flynn. "You guys didn't stay together the whole time? Damn it, Flynn! You promised everything would be fine!"

"Because I thought it was a lame mission, alright! I didn't plan on getting them trapped, ya know." Jack knew he didn't mean for it to sound like it was nothing, because Flynn know Jack knows how they both would die for their friends.

Hiccup choked on his juice. "W-What, trapped?!" Jack chuckled to himself. Hiccup had to do way better to hide his 'secret' crush on Astrid.

"Yeah, by roman Cyclops. The bad kind."

Flynn cleared his throat. "Astrid, if I may?"

"Go ahead," she said, folding her arms on the table. "I'm better with weapons than storytelling anyway."

Then Flynn began to tell a quite impressive tale about how he (it seemed like the story was more about him than Rapunzel at the end) got the rest of his team trapped and saved Rapunzel from one stupid Cyclop, with a sword (had to be a lie, Rider don't ever practice). Rapunzel had brought them back to lair where she'd been held captive and they found Astrid and Sandie there.

"So…" Jack said when Flynn finished with dramatic hand gestures. "Fry pan, huh?"

"Well, yes," the blonde mumbled and shrugged. Didn't she have shoulder length hair just now? "It didn't stop the monsters though, didn't even knock them unconscious." She sighed. Jack studied her for a moment. Everyone who comes to camp is usually traumatized after being chased by monsters. This girl had even been held captive for gods know how long and she looked perfectly fine with it. But somehow he knew she must have been a mess when Flynn found her faced up with that one-eyed bastard alone in the forest.

"What you need, Blondie," Astrid said, pointing at the new camper. "is a Celestial Bronze weapon. 'Would've taken you to the storage myself if I didn't have full schedule tomorrow."

"Yeah, same." Flynn implied. "But _someone_ got to keep those sneaky idiots under a sort of control during camp activities, plus I got a damn counsellor meeting afterwards."

"I can take you, I got no classes tomorrow." _Because the unclaimed kids don't have any._ The camp never saw to give them a schedule since most got claimed the same day they get here. And then there's Jack. He usually just joins other cabins in their activities as he pleased, but it didn't feel right, especially not in those cabins where he had no friends.

"And I can make you one if you don't find any you like," Hiccup offered. He glanced at the forest. His eye brows furrowed and his eyes turned hard. "She probably fell down a well." He stood up from the table.

"Hey Viking, sit down and eat," Jack ordered him with a stern look. "You might as well grow some muscle too, along with Punzie here. I'll look for her, alright? I'm done eating anyway." He stood up as Hiccup sat down again, grumbling darkly at the comment of his body mass and how he didn't understand how Jack's ice cream never melted. With a quick thank you from Rapunzel, he left the table and headed out to the grass ground. It was wet and slippery and so full of dew he could probably have made small skating rinks at places if no one was around. When the light from the dinner pavilion was behind him, Jack began to think. He hadn't known Merida all that long, but he knew if she had first gone into the forest, she could stay here for days if she was angry or hurt enough. It was the only place she could _think_ without worrying if anyone would find her. He had to admit he wasn't even close to the read head when it came to mapping that place. Merida had an amazing sense of direction.

Twigs cracked under his bare feet as he entered misty green surroundings. Just like a normal forest it was filled with life even at this hour. He could have thought, judging from Merida's temper, that she would've kicked and wrestled her way through all these bushes, but there was no signs of her as much as setting a foot in here.

Jack wished it was winter. He could easily track her down in the snow without going through a deadly trap of scratchy branches. Merida was brave, though. He remember her declare that she would "overpower" the forest as soon as someone told her it was off limits due to the dangers that lured in there. It started out as a challenge, but she kept coming back here for comfort she had told him. Well, with other words, but it's the same thing.

_I haven't known her for a long time_, he thought and ducked under a branch. Even though Jack came to camp only a few weeks after her, they had only been friends a couple months after an incident with Capture the Flag earlier this summer. They weren't as close as she and Hiccup, but they enjoyed each other's company enough to be called friends – even those times they were arguing so loud the whole camp could quote the fight the next day.

Both of them were year-round campers so he figured he only had her around when everyone else went off to school in a few weeks. Even Hiccup who lived a far off, locked up island like Berk will go back there to keep trying not to disappoint his mortal father. Jack didn't see the logic in that. He didn't really have anyone to go back to, but Merida had a family waiting for her back in Scotland, so he never really got around why she stayed here. How did he get such good friend again? He smiled viciously at the thought. The first 'friend' he made here two years ago was Flynn Rider, seeing he felt bad for the unclaimed. Jack chuckled at the memory of how he had shown the counselor that he could take care of himself. The guy didn't dare to approach him before two weeks afterwards and that's the story of how Jack learned he couldn't show off his powers. Flynn is the only one who knows about them, not even Chiron knows. Jack got to know Sandie half a year later, during Christmas Break when some kids bullied him for being mute. He didn't even _want_ to think about how Astrid had almost chopped his head off, accidentally of course… or not. He's still not sure.

Faint sounds of metal slamming into wood finally reached his ears. _That's Merida for sure._ He picked up speed. He didn't really know what to do to make her feel better – she was obviously still furious – she rarely let people comfort her, not that he was good at comforting. Last thing he heard was that he had a heart of ice and Merida's frost jokes just keeps getting lamer.

As he came closer he heard Merida's voice giving in at the end of her battle cries. And as he moved a branch out of his sight, he saw why. Her jeans and orange Camp Half-Blood shirt was ripped and torn, twigs was tangled into her massive hair, she had bruises and some blood on her arms, and her tears mixed with the small wounds on her face. All in all, she looked murderous as she sliced her mortal sword into a tree trunk. She was standing on top of a rocky shelf with so many trees each having about 50-60 marks that she couldn't possibly have done all this tonight. The ground was misty and the air chill and when the wind ruffled through the forest, promising a cool breeze to calm her down a notch.

Jack stepped out of his hiding and immediately broke a stick under his foot. Merida arched down slightly and shot him a glare. When she saw it was him, her right hand twitched like she wanted to throw her sword at him, aiming for the carefree smirk on his face.

He held his hands up. "Hey Mer. Don't kill me, it'll be lots of paperwork."

She rolled her eyes and groaned, still furious. "What do you want, Frost? And how did you even find me? Get lost." She swung her sword again.

"Nah, can't do that, sorry." He took a seat on a stone so he could watch her. She ignored him. "I'm here to bring you back on a request from a friend."

"Hiccup didn't come?" Merida asked causally, cutting off a smaller branch.

"Nope."

"Good. He could get lost too." Jack could smell her sweat from where he sat and when he called her out on it, she didn't even bother look at him. _Okay, so maybe joking with her wouldn't help the situation._ He tried a new strategy.

"…I can see why you like it here in this clearing, the scenery looks a lot like Scotland."

Merida hesitated a second, her eyes darting from place to place, before chopping off a piece of wood. "I don't miss that place."

"I believe you do," he stated as a matter of fact. "Though you never told me why you stay here instead of going–"

"Because it's not YOUR FUCKING BUISNESS, JACK!" Her voice cracked at the last syllable. She turned to him, sword in hand and eyes like blue lightning striking you from afar. "It's not yours," the tip of her sword pointing at him. "Theirs," back at the dining pavilion. "Chiron's, or Hiccup's business. It's only for me and my family to care about."

Jack tried to shrug. "But we care about _you_, though." She groaned again and made a nice cut into the bark. "And, not going to push it here, but most of us knows what it's like to be picked on." _Nailed it._

Or not.

The red head turned to him sharply, looking even angrier now than before if possible. "WHAT did you say?" She stormed down the rocky shelf, leaving her sword, but she didn't need it to look dangerous. As she approached he felt all instincts screaming for him to run. "Listen, Jack Frost, you don't have the slightest clue about what I'm going through, so don't feel the need to make _me_ feel better when you don't know _anything_."

That triggered him. "I think you've just forgotten about our first year here, DunBroch, where close to no one wanted to even _look_ at me, so don't come here and say I don't know because I sure as hell _do!_"

"NO, YOU DON'T AND YOU NEVER WILL," Merida exploded and Jack could swear on the river Styx he saw a bloody red colour wash over her eyes. "YOU WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO KNOW AND BE HAPPY ABOUT THAT BECAUSE I CAN SWEAR TO ALL THE GODS IT'S NOT PLEASANT! DON'T COME HERE AND CLAIM YOU KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE WHEN YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO ME!"

He was about to fire something back when he realized that he actually didn't know. It could be something completely different to her and he wouldn't know because he wasn't her. He'd never experienced things she had, and he shouldn't step on it like everyone has an equal sadness when it might be that hers is much greater and takes a lot more time to think about and takes up so much more room in her head than his sadness does.

Merida turned around so he wouldn't see her face. But he heard the silenced sobs and saw her curls twitch and shake with them. This was the kind of situation he wasn't good at – absolutely not his area. Should he pat her on the shoulder and say something like it's going to be okay, or would that just make her mad again?

Eventually, she sat down on the ground, her back against the cool mountain and face resting in her hands. "This whole thing… it just sucks." Her voice shook. A breeze rushed through the leaves.

Jack sat down beside her and sighed. "Yeah, very messed up." He listened to Merida whisper small curses that couldn't possibly have anything to do with Apollo. But after a while, Jack got an idea. "I'm adopted," he smirked.

She looked at him, confused. "What?" the inside of her palm wiped her face clean.

"Mhm. Found me as a kid and took me under his wing – best thing that's ever happened to me."

She almost smiled and laughed a little. "I got identical triplet brothers."

"I've never managed to light a fire."  
"This is my only pair of pants."  
"Willow the horse hates me."  
"I'm jealous of the tree nymphs."  
"I can't stand shoes."  
"I_ do_ miss Scotland."  
"I wish you would trust us more."

She shrugged it off. "And maybe I will." Merida smiled at him. "But not now." She turned her head in the direction of the pavilion. She absentmindedly whispered, "Do you think I can still steal one of those glasses? I could use a smoothie right now."

"And some real food, Fire. Cinnamon rolls doesn't count."

She stuck her tongue out. "Like you're the one to talk, jackass." They got up and went in another direction from where he'd come from. Yeah, Merida knew this place better than he did. And it seems like he had stumbled in circles on his way here. Merida was nice enough to warn him before they approached holes in the ground or wells. Well, most of the times at least.

* * *

"Man, Jack, you gotta taste this smoothie. It's like it's made out of the gods glory and tears." She took another sip as they closed in to the campfire. She was close to purring over her rasp- and blueberry smoothie. He didn't know why, but she always instantly got happier after getting a glass of it.

He rolled his eyes at her. They walked down past a few benches, looking for Hiccup and Rapunzel and the others. "You should at least try to hide it. We shouldn't steal magical dishes."

"_Borrow_. And you're just jealous, Frost." She smiled smugly as she gulped down the rest, some of it sticking to her face.

"Of the smoothie?" he asked cheeky. "Nah, I'd rather never be inside–"

Merida kicked him down a few steps as he kept laughing at his own joke.

"Hey MERIDA! JACK!" Hiccup called from above them. Jack barely managed to turn his head from his twisted position at the end of the staircase. They sat on top of a few boxes at the top of the staircase. It was only him and Rapunzel. "Come join us!"

"Yeah, will do!" Jack called. "Hey Mer, help me out here. Merida. Don't walk away. Please, DunBroch, c'me on – IT WAS A JOKE! _Merida!_"

* * *

**Pffew, that took a while to get around. Sorry, I've been caught up with work and other projects to continue, but now I'm back! I really love this story, and now that Jack has finally arrived, we can get this thing started! ^^ Just a reminder: I don't plan on including any RotBTG ships, even though it might seem like I'm building up to something, but their behavior is just them and it writes itself, so who am I to stop the way of the pen? I just really love their friendship and how their personalities fit with each other and that's what I want to write about :)**

**"Will Toothless and the rest of the guardians also show up soon?"  
- I really, really, ****_really_**** love Toothless' character and I want him here, so somehow I ****_will _****make sure he shows up. As for the guardians, Bunny will appear and maybe Tooth (Tia). I don't plan on involving North, unfortunately. **

**Stay magnificent! **

**Johannich**


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